"... It never fails to impress a visitor to the Yellow City that its citizens are by turns the wealthiest, most refined, and most educated people in all the world, yet at the same time capable of the most malicious cruelties and licentious depravities. Like all those whose societies are ancient and rich, they are also cynical and filled with ennui. The most singular feature of their life, which strikes any visitor the moment he arrives, is their strict hierarchical stratification, which all inhabitants obey without question..."
From the journal of Laxmi Guptra Dahl, 'Being an account of a traveller in distant places' (Yoon-Suin, Davd McGrogan)
I hope David doesn't mind me using a bit of flavour text from the excellent in-character introduction to the Purple Land. Also, this post wouldn't have been possible without the fantastic work of d4 Caltrops.
My players will be starting in the Yellow City, home of the slug-men and the teeming mass of humanity and crab-men that toil under them. I've chosen this amoral, squalid hive for several reasons:
These posts are going to contain a reasonable amount of basic info that most of you will know because I'm planning on incorporating all of these into some sort of booklet and my players never learn. There will be some new stuff though, I promise.
Perfect. Let us begin.
Attributes
We're using the standard Lamentations of the Flame Princess array here - 3d6 for each score rolled in order. You can swap two of them once you're done.
Charisma (CHA)
Gravitas, leadership and magnetism. Used to inspire loyalty in underlings and comrades.
Constitution (CON)
Hardiness and overall health. Affects your HP total, positively or negatively.
Dexterity (DEX)
Co-ordination and speed. Affects your AC total, ranged attack modifier.
Intelligence (INT)
In-world knowledge and mental fortitude. Affects your Languages skill and saves vs Magic.
Strength (STR)
Brawn and muscle. Affects your melee attack modifier and your d6 target to break open doors etc.
Wisdom (WIS)
Divine favour and luck. Affects all other saves.
The following modifiers apply to your scores:
Class
Next, choose your class and rolls your starting HP. Below are some brief details on each one, but I'll be writing a more in-depth post soon. Each class is designed to have a specific focus:
Saves
Once you've chosen your class, note your saves. Your saves are determined by your class and improve as you level up (some other things that happen to your character in game might also affect them). There are 5 save categories that defend against different threats:
Next we need to find where your character came from - the life they had before adventuring. This has two areas:
- It's an amoral, squalid hive that mercilessly preys on the weak, and thus gives PCs many chances to trip themselves up.
- It's cosmopolitan and allows for no end of variety in terms of character origin and NPCs.
- It's conveniently close to several sources of adventure (Old Town, the Gulf of Morays & the Topaz Isles) has plenty of opportunities for city adventures in and of itself, and isn't far from Lahag and Lamarakh for haunted jungle and river adventures, respectively.
These posts are going to contain a reasonable amount of basic info that most of you will know because I'm planning on incorporating all of these into some sort of booklet and my players never learn. There will be some new stuff though, I promise.
Perfect. Let us begin.
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| Ruxing Gao |
The Basics - Attribute Scores, Class & Saves
Attributes
We're using the standard Lamentations of the Flame Princess array here - 3d6 for each score rolled in order. You can swap two of them once you're done.
Charisma (CHA)
Gravitas, leadership and magnetism. Used to inspire loyalty in underlings and comrades.
Constitution (CON)
Hardiness and overall health. Affects your HP total, positively or negatively.
Dexterity (DEX)
Co-ordination and speed. Affects your AC total, ranged attack modifier.
Intelligence (INT)
In-world knowledge and mental fortitude. Affects your Languages skill and saves vs Magic.
Strength (STR)
Brawn and muscle. Affects your melee attack modifier and your d6 target to break open doors etc.
Wisdom (WIS)
Divine favour and luck. Affects all other saves.
The following modifiers apply to your scores:
Class
Next, choose your class and rolls your starting HP. Below are some brief details on each one, but I'll be writing a more in-depth post soon. Each class is designed to have a specific focus:
- Warrior: you're good at killing things, you can choose weapon specialisations to improve your kill-iness.
- Thief: you know a lot, you're the only class that gets reliable skill bonuses, allowing you to interact with lots of different things.
- Magician: you have breached the veils of the arcane and can cast arcane spells, you can also create magic items with enough resources.
- Holy Man: the gods favour you strongly, you can cast divine prayers and can also create divine items with enough resources.
- Dwarf: your masked people are a remnant of their former glory, but you are skilled in battle and you know the underworld well.
- Slug-Man: you sit at the top of the Yellow City's decadent hierarchy, and you know a spell or two.
- Crab-Man: you are a slave, but you are mighty and your shell is as strong as steel.
Saves
Once you've chosen your class, note your saves. Your saves are determined by your class and improve as you level up (some other things that happen to your character in game might also affect them). There are 5 save categories that defend against different threats:
- Stun - protects against movement and mobility-based effects, such as a spider's web, a slippery floor, or a powerful blast of air.
- Doom - protects against effects that bypass HP damage, like poison, disease, and drugs.
- Blast - protects against AoE (area of effect), like a dragon's breath, falling rubble, or a firebomb.
- Magic - protects against magic spells, including magic items, divine prayers and other miscellaneous supernatural powers.
- Luck - used when none of the above apply, and represents your inherent luck and the favour of the gods.
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| Marcelo Lee |
Backgrounds & Professions
Next we need to find where your character came from - the life they had before adventuring. This has two areas:
- Your background gives an idea of your social position and where you fit into life in the Yellow City. It also shows the cost (in silver rings) you need to pay each month on maintaining your social standing while living in the Yellow City.
- Your profession is the job you did in the context of that background, badly. It also increases one of your skills and gives you some starting gear.
Background
The below should be self-explanatory, but for reference:- Humans are spread all over Yoon-Suin. If you are from the Yellow City or Lamarakh/Sea Nomads, roll on the appropriate table. Otherwise roll on the generic human background, which covers humans from the Hundred Kingdoms, the Oligarchies, and Sughd. If you want to decide your origin randomly, roll 1d3: 1. Yellow City, 2. Lamarakh/Sea Nomads, 3. Other.
- Slug-Men, Crab-Men and Dwarves inhabit the Yellow City and as such have a single table each.
Humans
Slug-Men
Dwarves
Crab-Men
Profession
Once you have determined your background, roll for your profession on the relevant tables below, noting down the skill bonus and items listed. Items in bold are oversized (count as 2 items), items in italics don't count towards encumbrance (exceptions apply, but more on that in the upcoming equipment post):Humans
Slug-Men
Dwarves
Crab-Men
Second Skill Point
You now get a second skill point to allocate as you like. Enjoy!Social Rank
With credit to d4 Caltrops' excellent Yoon-Suin resources for the idea.Your character's social rank indicates how they are perceived by the denizens of Yoon-Suin: the slug-men are known to be the wealthy masters of the Yellow City, crab-men are known to be slaves (if they are known of at all), and the social position of humans and dwarves can be gauged by their appearance and wealth. Social rank has a number of effects:
- It modifies reaction rolls in interactions between characters of different social ranks.
- Certain goods and services are only available to certain social ranks.
- Certain downtime activities requires a certain social rank to take part in.
When interacting with a character of a different social ranking, the difference between social ranks is used as a modifier on reaction rolls made when making requests or issuing threats. For example, if a dwarf of a swordsman family (rank 5) made a request of a slug-man oligopolist (rank 10), the slug-man's reaction roll would be made with a -5 modifier (after other modifiers, of course). Conversely the dwarf would scarce be able to refuse the oligopolist's demands, which would be made with a +5 modifier. This reaction can be modified in a number of ways:
- Every 100sr presented as a gift by the lower ranking party reduces the modifier by 1, as gifts are appreciated and if a gift is presented then decorum must be maintained.
- Blackmail material allows the lower ranking party to ignore the difference in social rank, and gives them a +4 modifier on the reaction roll.
- Wearing fancy clothing reduces the modifier by 1. Conversely, not wearing fancy clothing increases the modifier by 1 if both parties are of the same rank, if they are above rank 4.
- An important task completed for a social superior may reduce or eliminate the modifier, for a time, due to their gratitude at a job well done. I'll let you know if this occurs.
Each social rank has a monthly cost required to maintain it - this represents the costs of the lodgings, servants, food, drink and other particulars of conspicuous consumption required to remind the people of your station. If you can't, or won't, pay the cost of your social rank and instead pay for a lower social rank, roll 1d10 - if the result is lower than your current ranking you immediately drop to the rank that you have paid for.
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| Alexis Rives |
The Debt
Your character has a reason that they're out adventuring instead of earning an honest wage - it's not a life that someone gets into because they made great choices. Between you your characters have racked up an impressive amount of debt to some rather nasty personages - roll 1d6 x 100 for the exact amount of gold rings you owe as a party. You'll need to pay off part of this (minimum 1%) each time you finish an adventure, and it doesn't count towards XP. If you miss a payment, expect consequences.Starting Gear
This section is also shamelessly adapted/stolen from d4 Caltrops.All characters start with a change of clothes, a pair of mojari/paduka sandals and 1d4 of the following:
- Woven grass backpack.
- Hammock or sleeping mat.
- Full drinking bladder of water, tea, or cheap rice liquor.
- Tinderbox.
- 2 iron rations
- 5 bamboo torches
Money
Slaves and crab-men start with no extra cash.
Social ranks 2-4 start with 3d6 silver rings.
Social ranks 5-7 start with 6d6 silver rings.
Social ranks 8-10 start with 1d6 gold rings.
Equipment
Magicians and slug-men start with a parchment spell book, and a pen & ink if they don't already have one.
Holy men start with a parchment scroll of divine prayers, and a pen &ink and wooden holy symbol if they don't already have one.
Dwarves start with a grotesque mask that they customarily wear around non dwarves (counts as a helmet).
Each character may then choose one item from each of the below tables:
With that, you're ready to head off to your
